Poll: W3j vs. A8Jm

hey, i'm new to this forum, read through pretty much all of the threads that has high post counts and stuff, espeically the W3j and the A8Jm owner lounges. I'm in need of a new laptop for college this year ( like many of those out there) and i've been eyeing these two models. My preferences are 13-14" screen, lightweight, 1-2 gig ram, and either Nvidia 7600go or x1600 dedicated card. The rest are style, battery life (3 hours+) and feel pretty much. These two fits my needs exactly i would say and i've been having a hard time deciding between these two. I would just like to see what other board members preferences are regarding these two, i've read, fine machines. Also I would like to wait for Merom to come out but would there be any point in waiting? I'm not desperately in need of a new laptop since i have my crappy Compaq for now, but i'm definitely in need of a new one. Any suggestions on what's the main difference between the two and any reason to get one over the other? Which card is better, 7600go or x1600? Sorry about the long post =X

 

There were hundreds of topics like that, you said you read most of topics about W3 and A8 and you still don't know the diffrences?! So I guess your blind or in fact you haven't searched for an answers.

W3j : superb quality + X1600 (instead of GF7600) + Bluetooth + no DVI (VGA instead)

A8jm : lower quality than in W3j (still good though) + GF7600 + NO Bluetooth + DVI

And that's it. No more diffrences. Oh, and price, but that;s obvious.

 

Well, in addition to Mastha's summary above, there's also:

W3J: 1280 x 768, 3 USB ports, extra modular bay for extra battery, HD or travel tray

A8Jm: 1280 x 800, 5 USB ports, webcam

And if you're buying outside North America, BT is included (in NA, you can get BT if you buy from PortableOne). I say, if you have the cash to spend and don't need DVI / webcam, go for W3J. If you want to save some money and get comparable performance to the W3J, get the A8Jm...

 

I dunno like A8Jm , looks like a simple purpose gaming NB to me...
On the other hand the tiny-yet-useful W3J is Ideal for me as a first year college student and a would-be game developer(?!)

 

thx for your replys, Mastha, i've read through all of the threads and nothing really compared these two directly. OF COURSE i know the difference in spec, i just want to know people's personal preferences and their quirks with these two machines, i can stare at the system specs all day long but only in the end, people such as yourselves can provide me with the insight of what to get. If I wanted to see the difference in specs, i would just look at a chart, What I'm asking for is like what you provided, W3j with higher quality finish and all that. Thx again for you're comments, so far the W3j is kicking ass. Oh and i would really like to know if it would be worth it to wait it out for Merom, things i've been reading at DailyTech and Tom's Hardware and Anandtech are not that great for Merom =X

 

If you're categorizing the A8Jm as simple gaming notebook based on performance and specs, then so is the W3J.

I don't see how if the A8Jm can be a simple purpose gaming NB and the W3J is not... their specs are comparable in every case, and similar in size. I wouldn't call the W3J tiny, since it and the A8Jm are actually on the heavier side of thin and light notebook models.

Especially if you're trying to be a game developer, I think you'd appreciate the A8Jm the extra little but useful 32 vertical pixels going down to see the few lines of code that needs to be scrolled, as well as DVI for high definition output when you need to check out the graphics of the game you're developing.

In any case, both have their benefits, just need to determine which ones suit you better.

 

Thats RIGHT!!!! Proud A8J owners dont cross swords with us!!!!

@ OP: The key to buying a computer: How much will you spend after taxes? Once you have that figured out...the rest is easy. Remember Laptop + Sleeve/Bag + mouse (wireless/wired) + can of compressed air + maybe a LCD cleanign solution kit. Also the W3J will be "ooooooooooooo" laptop but the A8J because of it simple and clean lines gets enuff "ooooos" as well but maybe not as long as the "ooooooooooooo" for the w3j.

besides ull have to spend a long time letting ppl know wut Asus is and that its Asus not Acer anyways

My decision was based on price, looks and the fact that i prefer nvidia drivers over ATI (yea thats kinda stupid, but when im spending on a laptop for which ive been researching for like 6 months, i wanna get something as perfect as possible). Looks simply because i really like the minimalist silver and black of the A8J...yes its all plastic but the build quality is superb. I can push on the lcd with my finger and no ripples...goto bestbuy/fry's/future shop and try and find such a laptop.

 

thx zydus, that's exactly the kind of comments i wana hear =P well price isn't really an issue for me, since im set on buying the best laptop to suit my needs, $1499 vs $1799 is pretty close in my book and definitely i want to know if that extra $300 is going to worth it or not.

 

have u gone to ur bestbuy or actually wherever u might be to the electronics store where they have the hps/compaqs/acers/toshibas ? This is what i wanna suggest. Go there first push on the lcd and voila ripples. Now push on the lid from the outside (The plastic lid) and voila ripples (gateway's are notrious for this). press down on the palm rests and flex..same on the keyboards. Lift the laptop up hold it at the edge with ur thumbs on the palmrest and shake it. Doesn't seem very sturdy does it?

You wont have any of those problems with the asus'. between the A8 and the W3 the W3 will have slightly better build quality cos of the metal alloy body as opposed to the plastic.

Since price isn't of concern you basically need to choose between battery life, heat generation, and the video card. since you mainly seemed concerned abt the video card u cud go for either...maybe based on the type of games ur looking to play? You'll basically need merom "mainly" if you want 64bit...for which i see no use (at the time being) personally, i dont know what your needs are.

the 512mb vs 256+256 shouldn't be a cause for concern since even integrated vid chipsets can run vista albeit not in all its glory.

PS. if ur looking to go linux...the choice is a bit clearer..nvidia all the way

 

Based on that + the fact you have the cash to spend ...... I think the W3J will fit your more, since it looks better (style) and has the extra modular bay to put an extra battery in, and increase your battery life. The A8Jm will barely hit 2 hrs 45 minutes with wifi on, acceptable brightness and regular office work (at least in mine.... ).

 

how much is the w3j modular battery? cos as of right now it doesn't switch over seamlessly rt? so i rather get another a8j battery and still have a dvd-drive to use

 

those are isolated problems from what i've seen..its the 2nd HD that did it for me..i'll be picking one up in a couple months with the 160

 

I have a question about build quality difference. It is common to hear people say something along the lines of 'the W3J has better build quality than the A8Jm.' As far as I've been able to gather, this is only because of the alloy lid right, as opposed to the A8's plastic? So less lid flex and so on.

Is there any other noticeable difference in terms of build quality that one should be aware of before making their decision?

 

yeah from what i hear it's mainly because of the metal alloy chassis. A8Jm uses more plastic i guess. I've tweaked around with Linux and might consider it in the future, is Nvidia better than Ati in that manner? What I'm looking for is pretty much a portable, lightweight, small, and good looking NB that can play games resonably well, for my Desktop i have 4800+ X2 with 2x 7800GT SLI with 2gig DDR2, so you see games are a big part of what I'm doing. I really don't want a 17incher desktop replacement thats heavy and bulky, I think that should be left to the desktop, but I also don't want some intergrated graphics crap that looks like hell when I load CS or something so you can say the graphics card is a big thing that I'm looking for, I heard the x1600 outperforms the 7600go in most of the catagories though, is that correct?

 

There is NO lid flex in the A8Jm and i dont think anyone has mentioned any flex in the lid. For some people the lid doesn't perfectly line up with the base and none of us noticed it until we were told. There is slight flex in the left end of the keyboard (Check the A8J lounge).

Talking about flex and stuff, honestly if you didn't know about asus and the whole "flex" thing ppl would be happy with something else. Its honestly slightly over-rated and something of little concern. Its like since people have seen how much better the Asus stuff is we are all getting really picky. I think I can safely say that the A8J with its supposed flex and what not issues is still miles ahead of the major oem build quality.

Noticeable difference in build quality? ask Justin @ pro-portable cos he has both units to play with but i think its got more to do with looks, since when u spend $1500+ on ur laptop i dont think u'll treat it with disdain and bang it around.

Nvidia has better linux driver support than ATI, although i recently read ATI is planning to go open source with linux drivers to get the open source community to help them out.

 

Go7600 vs x1600 has been debated so many times... in certain games, one outperforms the other, even in benchmarks, in 3dMark05, the x1600 wins, while in 3dMark06, the Go7600 wins...

I say they're comparable and none is better than the other, just depends which games you're playing ...

 

and i think ppl are getting too picky with the whole flex issue.

 

if you play games with doom3 engine the nvidia will perform better..if you play games with the HL2 engine the ati will perform better..still though i wouldn't pick between laptops for this reason alone

 

I own both (or I did until last night anyway) and the W3J is hands-down the better notebook. Unless you are in dire need of an integrated webcam or DVI, the A8Jm has nothing to offer except a cheaper price tag.

To me, the screen on the W3J looks better as well. I was expecting them to be practically identical screens, but I think the glare coating on the W3J is more subdued and less distracting than on the A8Jm. I also think the "negative" viewing angle effect is slightly worse on the A8Jm. Then there's battery life. I could barely scratch out 3 hours with wifi on with the A8Jm. With the W3J, I'm able to get a bit over 4 hours with wifi on, bluetooth off, and low brightness. And that's just with the primary battery. I expect I'll be looking at six hours once I get the optical bay battery (which isn't an option on the A8Jm).

Also to me, the W3J just feels a little more solid. I am very picky about build quality, and while the A8Jm is by no means a bad notebook (to the contrary, I liked it very much) I think the W3J just has a better feel. The metal lid is nice, the mouse and palm rests feel slightly sturdier, and the power button is much better... A8Jm's power button feels kinda squishy to me, I was worried that I might wear it out somehow.

Now I don't want to give the impression that the A8Jm is not a good notebook. I liked it very much, and if the W3J didn't exist, it would still be my #1 choice. I just think that if you can afford the extra cost, the W3J is an all-around better notebook.

Unless you like to game in Linux

I only have two gripes thus far about the W3J - it's pot-belly (the bottom of the notebook in the middle sticks out farther than the front rubber feet, not sure if I put the cover back on wrong or not but I've heard this about the W3J before) and the activity leds. They are very pretty, but they're right in the front of the notebook and are very bright, which makes them somewhat distracting. I'm thinking about sticking a piece of tape over them if I can't find a better alternative. Right now I just rest my left palm over them.

 

Care to explain how the W3J is the better notebook?

 

I just did above

er, by above I mean my edited post on the previous page, since this post started a new page

 

I own an a8jm and had to make the same choice, between the two about a month ago now. I kind of like how Darrick laid it out, and I kind of looked at the two laptops in that manner to decide. There are options to get bluetooth(mine has it) but I'm using the basic ensemble features.

W3j

1200x768
Optional: Modular Bay(160gig 2nd HD or 1 hr+ Battery or 2nd DVD-RWetc)
~4hr battery w/o modular bay(Wifi + no Bluetooth)
Bluetooth
Magnesium Alloy/Carbon-fiber Chassis
3 USBs No DVI
ATIx1600 256 +256

A8jm

1200x800
~3hr battery(Wifi + no Bluetooth)
No Bluetooth Standard
Carbon-fiber/Plastic Composite
5 USBs + DVI
NVidia Go7600 512

In the end the modular bay was a non issue for me, I have external HDs I use, and as a result 3 USBs was really below what I wanted. They both are built extremely well, and it would have been nice to have the chassis the w3j has, but the a8jm is about as solid as it gets(except the Asus W line).

The 3 hrs of battery from the a8jm are adequate for my basic mobile college needs. I found DVI to be a big deal because there is a noticable difference between the VGA and DVI when I hook up my monitor atm. I plan on keeping this laptop for three years hopefully, and DVI just opens up a whole bunch of options VGA cannot.

Its basically an analysis of what you want, I chose the a8jm because it fit my needs more, with the usbs and DVI, I also saved ~$300 U.S which bought me my 20inch widescreen monitor. Anyway they are both premo laptops can't really go wrong either way.

 

Wow, you can manage 4 hrs on primary battery w/ wifi on?
That seems to be longer than most W3J users have reportedly been able to manage.

Sabrewulf, how do you find the heat production of the W3J in comparison to the A8Jm? Either of them get uncomfortably warm (i.e. to be used on your lap)?

 

4 hours is with the next-to-lowest brightness setting, which is quite adequate for low-light environments, but when I'm in a very well lit area I usually bump it up to 40% which docks my battery life down to 3:30.

I can't really make an even heat comparison because my A8Jm seemed to always run the fan at full speed once it came on. The only way I could get it to spin the fan down was to put it in standby and then bring it back out. As a result, the A8Jm always ran very cool, but as I said that's because the fan was always blowing at a fairly high speed. The W3J on the other hand seems to spin the fan up and down and to several intermediate levels based on temp, and therefore the W3J usually runs warmer. I'm sitting it on my khaki-clad leg right now and while it is certainly warm, I am not concerned about being burned. Of course if you tried to game with it on your lap that might be a little different

 

(First post... Yay)

I've spent alot of time debating between these two, and have decided that come the end of aug. I'll be buying the a8jm from portable one with the transflective screen and bluetooth for a shade above the cost of the w3j (config'd how I like it.).

In my books, the ability to get a screen that you can use outdoors, in the direct sunlight is the dealbreaker.

Can't wait!!

 

The screen in W3j is fully readable in direct sun, I uploaded some pictures to proove that, they are somewhere on this forum.

 

maybe ur a8jm had its bios upgraded because the fan definitely does not blow at full speed whenever its turned on. Even when it does come one its still not spinning at full speed.

pwr4gear setting: quiet office or high performance or super performance...no cpu intensive task the fan does NOT spin at full speed upon turning on.

bios: .207

 

And some battery life screens :

wifi off, brightness second to lowest :

with wifi on :

 

thx guys for all you're comments, My thinking after these three page of suggestions is that, W3j is a more sturdy laptop while A8Jm is no slouch, the Video card is pretty much the same, only preferences between Ati and Nvidia, but with omega drivers i'm thinking you can overclock the Ati higher than Nvidia, not sure, and finally I'm wondering, if i throw down $1500 for the A8Jm, would I ever regret not spending that $300?

 

Whatever you will choose you will be 200% happy, that's for sure. ATI or nVidia shouldnt be deciding factor, GF and Radeon are excactly the same performers, in some cases ATI maybe has a few frames more but you won't notice that in real life.

 

thx mastha, i just wanted some reassurance because I don't want to throw down the big bucks and regret it later on -__- and now to the topic of Merom, ProPortable has a "semi-ETA" of Merom on Asus's notebooks of Early October, my college starts in Late September so right now I'm really contemplating waiting that extra couple of weeks to get "what they say" is more performance with less power consumption, but that's been attacked by recent articles on reputable sites, and there's always Santa Rosa, but that's expected to be Q2 07, I don't think I can wait THAT long, and by what it seems, it won't be THAT much different than the Merom.

 

The main rule of buying is never wait for something better, just get what you can at the moment.

 

I know that, it's just that Merom is seriously right around the corner and since I don't need the laptop til end of September, wouldn't it be wise to wait a couple of weeks, til around early October, to pick up one with Merom so I don't feel regretable? I know that with that mindset you'll never buy anything cause everytime you buy something, something better comes along, but in my case, it wouldn't really hurt to have patience? =X

Oh and a funny thing popped into my mind, would it be worthwhile to look into the F3Jm? Isn't it pretty much the same as the A8Jm except the keyboard layout, a 15.4" screen, and some cosmetic differences? How is the build quality of that compared to W3j and A8Jm?

 

The F3Jm should have about the same quality as the A8Jm... still not comparable in materials to the W3J

 

15" > 14", too.
If battery life is that much of a concern (when comparing w3j to a8jm) you can save the $300 by getting the a8jm and get plenty of batteries. you won't need 3+ hours of battery time every day, so just take the extras along when you really do? i think that'll be more cost effective, too.
The DVI really did it for me, which is why i got the a8jm

 

Hi,

I was in the same situation as you are and probably asked the same set of questions . The A8jM looked like a dream come true for me but..........
I returned it...... cavaet...the stuff I am gonna write below are my own views....

1. I felt the design looked good in pictures but when I finally got my hands on it I was dissapointed !. The undercasing of the laptop felt "cheap" ..the ports(firewire, sound, etc) were not enveloped well by the undercasing ..giving it a very cheap look...

2. The touchpad was awfull expecially the right click /left click area on the touchpad, the Synaptics driver was useless because the click was just hard to press...

3. The hinges and the LCD casing design looked old

4. It felt thick and bulky for a 14.1" laptop.

5. Stupid "InstantOn" button always launched the media player everytime I booted.

6. Battery life was pathetic, I got lower battery life than the folks here have got.. 1:30 hr...with Office mode and 70% or even lower brightness.

7. The Speakers were basically holes in the under casing and didnt stand out.(not a major gripe but why such a pathetic design)

8. The A.C adapter got very very hot....reminded one of those "omlette on a Mac" videos...you could cook meat on my adapter for sure !

I also felt that one strong shock on the LCD was enough for the plastic around the hinges to break....

I spend 2098 with taxes with max config on the site...even if I bought it for 1600 something dollars the complete lack of "basic styling" for a laptop of that price range would make me want to return it back. ...

Note...here i am not saying eyecandy designs, fancy lids or flashy blue lights

The components and performance are spectacular no doubt about it . !!...

Also I came to know about the Core 2 Duo line of laptops in July from my Taiwanese friend's brother who works for Asus ...so just decided to wait till October...

In the meantime I am watching out for the Core 2 Duo version of dv6000z packed with a decent GPU....

In a nutshell...I needed the power with atleast decent styling...and I didnt want to compromise on this....hence returned it...you might have a different criteria....

Just giving you an other perspective....

You can take one million opinions and advice from happy/unhappy users but ultimately YOU should be satisfied at the end of the purchase...

Hope this helps...

-Nuke

 

Exactly how does a port look cheap? I'm staring at mine really hard and really, all 5 USB ports look like USB ports. Convenient ones at that. I think they look nice =S.

Having handled a W3J, it's really a luxury item and they're very nice. If you can afford one, don't mind spending $500 for premium quality and don't need what the A8Jm offers (more, more convenient ports, DVI, webcam), get the W3J. For me a W3J meant $500 and I can't afford that or justify spending that to satisfy what for me were purely cosmetic concerns in what really amounts to a tool. If your view of laptops is purely utilitarian then get an A8Jm unless you plan on abusing your $2000 toy (hence C/Mg construction) or need the extra 20-30min of battery life/modular bay. I can't seem to hit 3 hours on my A8Jm but thus far I've either been watching DVDs or playing SNES ROMS on it. I've yet to have something to type, so office work should last somewhat longer due to more pauses in the computer's workload.

 

Whats all this talk about price? you can get 2 gigs of ram in the w3j for 1799 at gentech and 1850 at c9tech. Try configuring the a8jm to the same specs (T2500 and 2 gigs ram) and the cost difference is 100-150 dollars and not 300.

 

The price talk is still completely valid, you're giving a value argument. If price is the main issue then it's unlikely that configuring with 2GB/2500 is a major concern. A budget buyer typically doesn't want to spend >$100 for a small difference in performance like you'd get from going 1.83->2.0, and 1GB-2GB costs the same for both models since A8Jm's seem to have 1x1GB these days (mine does), though admittedly it's 1x533. Again, negligible difference in performance due to that.

 

I've also been deciding between the A8jm and W3J after weeding out just about every other laptops out there. At this point I'm debating whether or not to wait for merom.

Two things point me towards the A8jm:

- DVI port. I will probably have the laptop connected to my 20" widescreen 50% of the time, and at some point I may upgrade to a 23-24". I don't think it's acceptable for ANY laptop to not come with a DVI port.

- Some reports about a picture quality issue due to the X1600 in the W3J are a little troubling

I would definitely pay the small premium for the quality of the W3J but I'm having trouble getting over these 2 points.

 

might want to look at the V1J then..other than the w2J which is backordered this is the only W or V series notebook with DVI...well when it comes that is

 

Yep it looks great, but i'd prefer to keep it a 13-14" and the V1J is reportedly going to be around $2000-2500 which is out of my budget anyway.

 

thx guys for all your input, the two points that superman23 pointed out is good, but the first point doesn't really bother me that much. the DVI output is not that much of a concern to me because on the desktop, I have my superfast workhorse/gaming rig that i believe i posted before, 4800+ X2 with 2x 7800GT SLI with 2gig DDR2, so I won't be connecting my laptop to my huge screen anytime soon, I would prefer something small and portable for a laptop because really no "desktop replacement" laptop can really replace my laptop =X and the second point is the picture quality on the W3j, but from all the things I've read about the x1600 on the W3j, the positive opinions are tremendously more than the negative opinions, so I'm not that worried about the picture quality unless it's from a couple of unique cases. Pricing, as I've said, is NOT much an issue because I've set aside a small fortune to get the best laptop to fit my needs so yeah, that'll be exactly what I hope to get. After 5 pages and countless opinions heard, I'm really leaning towards the W3j, but I've somewhat succumed to the "speculator/buyings block" of waiting for "that new thing on the corner", so most likely I would be putting off buying whichever laptop i choose after Merom comes out. I realyl don't want anything bigger than 14" so that i guess rules out alota choices, so the question is now, will either of these two laptops come out with anything new other than just a beefed up processor? Sorry for the long post guys

 

hmm well you have to consider whether you want to wait for the meroms or if you can wait longer the new gpu's..though you have to keep in mind that since asus is primarily intel..the next gpu's will probably be nvidia..if that matters to you

 

My 4-year old Toshiba Satellite 5150 (with the magnesium shiny casing, not the crappy plastic casing), has COVERS that cover up all the ports, so the laptop looks alot more sleek than random ports in the back..

 

Ok. I am going to lean for A8JM because:

512 dedicated >> 256 dedicated

7600 does better than x1600 on 3DMark 06, as someone stated. That means the 7600 is more 'futureproof', and it also handles all the current games mediumly ok. Plus, with DOUBLE the memory, it sure can load in alot more fancy textures!

That said, the battery life on the A8JM is horrible. My Toshiba Satellite 5150 with the Geforce Go 420 has only ever gotten 1.5 hours. And its so horribly short that I don't ever use it on battery mode.

I don't see how the 2.5 hours (only +1 hour compared to my Toshiba laptop) will enhance the portability of this 14" MOBILE NB.

In comparison, the HP DV2000 has Geforce Go 7200 (which I guess is bad for Vista but I bet it can blast Vista full tilt??!), can last for 5-6 hours! Imagine roaming campus with that doing work with Wi-fi on and the screen roaring away. How awesome would that be?!

anways, i am another confused (graduate) student needing a laptop but confused between:

1) Asus A8JM (or W3J) vs HP DV2000

or

2) Just wait for Merom 64 bit + Vista 64 bit. Even if I wait for them and don't get them, that would mean all the current duo core NB will fall in price..

argjh

 

I wouldn't describe the battery life on the A8Jm as "horrible," 2.5-3 hours appears to be the average for every Core Duo notebook I've looked at that has the X1600/go7600 GPU. If battery life is your most important criteria (and you do have a desktop rig for gaming), then a model with integrated graphics will go a lot further. Dedicated graphics and long battery life tend to be mutually exclusive.

I'm going to guess that the 5-6 hour battery life for the DV2000 is based on manufacturer's claims, rather than benchmarking... either that or it's using an extended 9-cell battery.

I wouldn't make the decision of go7600 vs. X1600 based solely on the results of 3DMark 2006 either... BOTH companies have been caught "optimizing" their drivers to generate higher scores under 3DMark. Testing similarly configured rigs under various games suggests that the X1600 and the go7600 are neck and neck, performance wise.

Many people here have posted that they consider the 512MB dedicated on the A8Jm's GPU is overkill, and that 256MB is more than adequate for current games. That being said, since the 7600 doesn't use TurboCache/HyperMemory (unlike the X1600), I'd rather have too much than too little.

The real decision between the W3J and the A8Jm comes down to style vs. flexibility, as I'm sure others have already pointed out.

 

well on the point of battery life, i think 3 hours+ is more than adequet to do everything i need, when will you be away from the power plug more than 3 hours on an university campus? and on the topic of video cards, i can BEGIN to tell you guys how much i HATE integrated graphics. Going from my desktop to my laptop is, sorry for my "semi-religious" reference, from heaven to hell i can STAND the integrated graphics all choppy and stuff, that's why I'm pretty set on getting an Asus, top quality with dedicated graphics. If i wanted integrated, i woulda already gotten that dell with cheap materials with crappy specs for 1/3 the price =X also, from the things I've read, the 256mb gap between the x1600 and the 7600 is literally nonexistent. I mean they BOTH will run ANY game ranging from medium to max so i guess its acceptable. IF i want some eye candy, ican always fireup my desktop cause thatll last me a while. Anyone care to explain the "hypermemory" thing in the x1600? supposedly it makes up for "actually" memeroy? anyways thx for all the suggestions guys, keep them coming

 

The gpu "borrows" up to 256MB additional from system memory for graphics tasks when the load requires it. The specific settings for how/when are in the gpu itself and not adjustable by the end user. Same thing as TurboCache in nVidia cards - just cute marketing names.

 

ah ic, thx for clearing that up =P